


Bus Crush

by bardy_boi (clockworkgirl221)



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Meet-Cute, Public Transportation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 16:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15666777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockworkgirl221/pseuds/bardy_boi
Summary: “I’m sorry to bother you, but can I sit here?” Gorgeous Blond Boy asked, and his smile made Ravio’s cheeks heat.“Oh, uh, sure…” Ravio hoped his bad habit of rambling would come out…





	Bus Crush

**Author's Note:**

> Bus crushes can be the best... and at the same time the worst thing in the world...

Hilda was the one that suggested he go to the gym with her at night. As a rich business woman, she had enough money to get one of the more expensive Ubers, and she would have picked him up and dropped him off, but he was at least courageous enough to take the bus to the gym, and then take Hilda up on her offer to share the Uber fee with him on the way home, when the darkness had truly set in.

“I am only your lowly secretary,” he told her as they waited for the Uber the first night they went to the gym together. “And thus, I might as well save up the money.”

But Ravio liked his bus ride. It saved him a little money on transportation, but it was also a good time to listen to music or a podcast and just sit and stare out the window. There was also the added benefit of another passenger, a very attractive blond boy, who somehow boarded the same bus every day that Ravio did.

Gorgeous Blond Boy came from a park sweaty and smiling as he waved his pals goodbye, hitching a bright blue duffle bag onto his toned shoulders. Ravio had seen one of the others in the group holding a soccer ball once, but it seemed Gorgeous Blond Boy… lived at the park on the evenings Ravio went to the gym. The blond looked athletic, and as soon as he sat down, he nodded at whoever was across from him (he had to sit in the bench seats either toward the back or the front since the bus was getting full by the time his stop came around), and reached into the pocket at the front of his duffle for his earbuds.

When Gorgeous Blond put in his earbuds, it made Ravio feel a bit closer to the other boy, in a silly sort of way. Ravio wondered what music he listened to, and wondered if the other boy was going home, or to a night shift at work. Ravio never had the courage to ask.

Hilda heard almost everything Ravio had observed about the attractive blond that shared his bus ride as soon as they met up outside the locker rooms at the gym:

“He smiled at me when I passed him,” Ravio told her one night, and she shook her head, smiling as she made Ravio spot her at the weights.

“If you manage to take a picture of him, I can get some details as to who he is,” Hilda told him a few weeks later after hearing how toned the blond looked and how good his hair looked even when his bangs were plastered to his sweaty forehead.

He groaned, and she shook her head. “Or you could just, I don’t know, ask him what his name is.”

Ravio shook his head, and when he next saw the blond on the bus, shook his head again. Gorgeous Blond Boy probably was straight as an arrow. All the pretty ones were…

\--

One night, the seats filled up pretty quickly, and even the bench seats at the front and back were filled with older ladies and young people with earbuds in. It was now time for people to start sitting next to the people in the seats that faced forward.

Everyone seemed to ignore the seat next to Ravio, and he was both relieved and insulted that no one wanted to sit next to him, even though he was very near the back door of the bus… until his attractive blond boarded, and looked around him, spotting the seat next to Ravio almost immediately and smiling.

Ravio’s heart pounded in his chest as Gorgeous Blond Boy came up to him. Ravio took out an earbud, but he knew what the other boy would ask.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but can I sit here?” Gorgeous Blond Boy asked, and his smile made Ravio’s cheeks heat.

“Oh, uh, sure…” Ravio hoped his bad habit of rambling would come out… or his sexuality in general.

But the other boy’s smile widened and he sat down and dug out his ear buds as normal.

Ravio went back to gazing out the window, looking for the familiar landmarks that signaled his stop. He kept one earbud out, though, and so did Gorgeous Blond Boy. Ravio’s heart thrilled, until he realized that he was at the window seat, and the other was just getting ready to stand again to let the darker-haired boy past him when his stop inevitably came up.

Ravio got off the bus as he normally did, albeit awkwardly gesturing to his seatmate that he needed to get off the bus, and waiting patiently for Gorgeous Blond Boy to move so that Ravio wasn’t trapped between him and the window (which still thrilled him).

Hilda rolled her eyes as Ravio gushed about it before their yoga class.

\--

The next time Ravio and the attractive blond shared a bus, the blond plopped down next to him without being prompted to. Ravio looked around him and saw that there weren’t a lot of passengers, and his cheeks warmed as the blond looked at him.

“Um,” the blond started, “I can move if you want but… you’re the most familiar face to me here…”

Ravio shook his head, “No, no, it’s fine,” he managed.

He wouldn’t stop smiling for the rest of his ride.

Hilda was very amused when Ravio started talking about what happened, though she almost dunked Ravio under the water when their swim instructor wasn’t looking to wipe the giddy grin off his face.

\--

After a couple rides sitting together, Gorgeous Blond Boy finally jerked toward Ravio one day and said, “I’m Link, by the way.”

Ravio looked at the proffered hand like it might eat him, but then he smiled and looked up into Gorgeous Blond Boy’s--Link’s--face and smiled radiantly. “I’m Ravio.”

Link nodded, and took his hand back, placing it between in thighs where his other hand, which held his phone, rested. “Oh good. That’s out of the way.”

Ravio crooked his head, which made the ears of his rabbit hat flop over one shoulder, “What do you mean by that?”

Link smiled at him, “Oh, nothing. My… my friends keep hearing about you and they told me to just tell you my name. That’s all I had to do. Nothing else.”

“Nothing… else?” Ravio asked, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

Link flushed, and his eyes flickered back and forth from his phone to Ravio’s face, and finally he smiled, getting up from his seat. Ravio thought he was running away before Link said, “Isn’t this your stop?”

Ravio looked and bolted upright, “Yes.”

Link smiled as Ravio brushed passed him, “See you Thursday.”

\--

See you Thursday followed Ravio through Wednesday and into work on Thursday.

“Do you think he… noticed my schedule?” Ravio asked Hilda at lunch.

“Goddesses, you guys have been riding the same bus together for two months now,” Hilda told him, “He probably just observed the pattern. Or he only rides the bus from the park on the same days we go to the gym.”

“But he was at the park the same day we started going to the gym,” Ravio replied, and Hilda rolled her eyes.

“Which means he goes to the park regularly, at least,” she groused. “He must have noticed you staring the first time he smiled at you.”

Ravio sighed.

Hilda flicked him behind the ear, “Ask him for his number, at least. Hylia, he must be as shy as you are if his friends told him all he had to do was tell you your name.”

Ravio looked at his friend, slightly appalled, “What do you mean by that?”

“You are a very shy boy around people you’re attracted to,” Hilda amended. “You told off that Yuga guy Tuesday night like a knight in shining armour, but look at how silent and blushy you get when even thinking about starting anything with Link.”

Ravio shrugged again, then did a double take, “Wait… why did you mention his friends telling him to tell me ‘at least’ his name…”

“You told me that what he said!” Hilda replied.

Ravio stared, wide-eyed, at his sandwich. “What did he mean, do you think?”

“That he’s been eying you up too, and told his friends about his little bus crush,” Hilda said, narrowing her reddish eyes at him.

\--

“What are you going to listen to?” Ravio managed to ask when Link sat next to him Thursday.

Link shrugged, “I have a playlist of ocarina songs I listen to for inspiration,” he replied.

“Inspiration?” Ravio asked.

“I’m a musician,” Link replied. “Well, a very amateur one,” he chuckled. Then he pointed to Ravio’s phone, “How about you?”

“Oh, uh. Midna updated her podcast today…”

Link smiled and nodded, “That one’s pretty good.”

“You listen to it?” What a stupid question.

Link shrugged, “When I can.” He became oddly silent for a moment.

“Can I get your phone number?” Ravio blurted out.

Link glanced at him, wide-eyed, but then he smiled brilliantly. “Oh, sure.”

Ravio breathed a sigh of relief, and handed his unlocked phone over to the blond.

\--

“You got his number?” Hilda shrieked, and Ravio ducked his head as fellow weight-lifters side-eyed him and his gorgeous gym partner.

“Yes, Hilda…” Ravio replied through gritted teeth.

Hilda sat up from her place on the bench and stared at him until he looked down at her. “Text him! Say you’re single! Ask him out!” she told him, thankfully quieter this time.

Ravio flushed and shook his head, “No… no… I don’t want to scare him off! I just got his number today!” He smiled.

“Does he have yours?” Hilda asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“I sent him a text for that, at least,” Ravio replied. “He… hasn’t texted me back, though.”

Hilda shook her head, huffing loudly as she lay back down under the bar.

\--

“The battery’s dead,” Hilda groaned as they walked outside.

She was looking at her phone, and if looks could kill, her phone would be dead twice. She pushed her phone into her gym bag. “I’ll have to use yours.”

“What?” Ravio asked.

“I know you charge your phone when its in your locker,” Hilda replied, rolling her eyes. “Give it over. I’ll reimburse you for this ride.”

Ravio rolled his eyes, but handed his phone over to Hilda. He didn’t have to unlock it: she always figured out his passwords.

On the car ride home, his phone buzzed, and he immediately went to check who would be texting him (Hilda was in the car with him, and his parents never texted him…). It was Link… and he had a heart emoji by his name?

**Link <3: Really?**

Confused as to what Link could be answering (was Ravio the wrong number?), Ravio glimpsed the text above it.

**Me: I’m glad I have your number now, btw.**

… It wasn’t the text he had sent Link to give the other boy his number... He turned to Hilda and glared at her. She felt his expression in the dark. “You wouldn’t do it yourself, so I had to intervene. Call it payback for that time with Yuga.”

Ravio slumped in his seat. He didn’t have the heart to chastise his best friend in that moment.

\--

**Link <3 **(Ravio hadn’t the heart--ha--to change Link’s name in his phone at this point) **: I think you’re very cute.**  
 **Link <3: Sorry! That was Zelda.**  
 **Me: Oh, you have a meddling friend too?**  
 **Link <3: Haha… I do. She means well, though.**  
 **Me: What do you mean?**  
 **Link <3: Well… I do think you’re very cute, I suppose. I’ve told all my friends that at least twice.**  
 **Link <3: This is Zelda again, and it was more than twice. It was every stinkin’ day we went to the park to hang out after Link’s shift.**  
 **Link <3: Sorry again. I’ve kicked her out of my room.**  
 **Me: No problem. I kind of like her. She and my boss/friend should meet sometime and talk about their long suffering shy friends.**  
 **Me: Do you really think I’m cute?**  
 **Link <3: … Yes.**  
 **Me: ‘Cause… you’re really attractive yourself.**  
 **Link <3: Oh. **  
**Link <3: Thanks.**  
 **Me: Do you want to go out for coffee?**  
 **Link <3: I… would want that very much.**  
 **Me: Can I see you on a Friday?**  
 **Me: Do you go to the park then too?**  
 **Link <3: I work there.**  
 **Me: Oh. Well, maybe I could learn more about you Friday?**  
 **Me: Can you do lunch time? 12pm?**  
 **Link <3: I usually have an hour free around then. **  
**Link <3: If not I could get Darunia to cover for me.**  
 **Me: Oh, cool.**  
 **Me: Then see you Friday?**  
 **Link <3: You’ll see me Tuesday and Thursday first.**  
 **Me: Oh.**  
 **Me: Yeah.**  
 **Me: But I’ll be too giddy to really be much company.**  
 **Link <3: Aw, I’ll bet that’ll be really cute.**  
 **Me: ///o.o///**  
 **Link <3: ///^.^///**


End file.
